The present application is directed to surgical fasteners and, more particularly, to surgical fasteners that are self-locking once positioned within the patient and that allow for removal of the fastener after positioning.
Surgical fasteners, such as screws, pins, rivets, hooks, and the like, are often used for securing an implant within a patient. The implant is positioned within a patient's body and the surgical fasteners are inserted through apertures in the implant and into a bone (or other substrate) to fixedly connect the implant. Surgical fasteners may also be used independently to secure sections of a broken bone to one another.
One type of surgical procedure that utilizes surgical fasteners is the attachment of an implant, such as a vertebral plate, to vertebral members. The vertebral plate is sized to extend across two or more of the vertebral members such that the vertebral plate either limits movement of or provides additional support to the vertebral members. One or more surgical fasteners extend through apertures in the plate and into the vertebral members to secure the plate. One issue with this procedure is that the surgical fasteners may loosen and back out of the vertebral members over time. Correction usually requires another surgical procedure to either re-tighten the surgical fasteners to the bone, or removal and replacement of the fasteners and/or plate. Surgical fastener locking devices may be necessary to prevent the fastener from backing out of the support member.